Context & Connections

CambodiaMapsWebcam has installed a webcam, although it’s still in its beta-stage. The time stamp is the current time in Phnom Penh and the image refreshes every 12 seconds. However, due to frequent power cuts in Phnom Penh coupled with ISP connections dropping regularly, try re-loading or refreshing the page later if the image doesn’t change within one minute. This was put up mostly to serve as a “traffic webcam”. But just so you see how it is in my part of the world, I’m putting it out here. ” >> Blogged by Sreisaat last month on her blog sreisaat.comSource site for webcam: www.cambodiamapswebcam.blogspot.com

If you missed our sexual health issue last week, we hope you will check out the stories on phnompenhpost.com and share the information with young Cambodians who will benefit from a broader knowledge of the risks involved with a sexually active lifestyle. If you did get our special report on “Sexual Health 2.0” in Cambodia, and it is buried in a stack of past Phnom Penh Post’s somewhere in your house or workplace, we hope you will pull out last week’s Lift and pass it on to a young person you know who can improve their own reproductive health and pass on the knowledge.

We are hoping our efforts on last week’s issue continue to speak to Cambodian youth, but we are back to the weekly grind here at The Phnom Penh Post, and proud to be putting out the essential magazine for Cambodian youth for the 72nd week running.

Over the past two weeks there have been a number of stories, from Cambodia and around the world, that have caught our attention. Recent activity at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal has raised a number of questions from court observers with court officials divulging few answers.

Last month, the co-investigating judges at the KRT announced the conclusion of their investigations into Case 03, 20 months after they opened, drawing criticism that became a full-fledged controversy when British Co-Prosecutor Andrew Cayley issued his own statement saying that the alleged crimes in case 003 “have not been fully investigated”.

The latest twist came when investigating judges You Bunleng and Siegfried Blunk released a statement dated last Thursday, calling for Cayley to retract parts of his statement within three working days. Cayley announced earlier this week that he is appealing the decision handed down by the judges.

The state of affairs for Boeung Kak villagers, who are still protesting against being evicted from their lakeside communities, reached an all-time low after peaceful protests on April 21 were broken up by 100 police who wielded electric batons and attacked roughly 100 villagers, arresting 11 people, including two children. Last week, the government answered criticisms from human rights groups with a statement from Om Yentieng, head of the Anticorruption Unit and the Government’s Human Rights Committee, claiming that the police brutality was not a violation of human rights.

The World Bank also issued a statement last week that they were paying particular attention to the lakeside land dispute. Koet Chhe, deputy chief of Phnom Penh’s administration office, dismissed the warning. “The World Bank is not involved in our project to develop the Boeung Kak area and has no power to order us,” he said.

While it is difficult to remain upbeat about current events in the Kingdom, we are doing our best here at Lift to inspire optimism in our readers by paying particular attention to Cambodians who are seeking success in foreign lands. We take you on a journey through America with a photo-narrative from Mesa Lang , who recently returned from a stint studying abroad in Illinois, and our student of the week is already an experienced cultural diplomat.

Having gathered our thoughts on the passing of Reach Sambath , and the legacy he is leaving behind, our constructive Cambodian this week remembers a true pioneer in Cambodian journalism.

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With an attempted coup against the government of President Recep Erdogan quashed only days ago and more than 7,000 alleged conspirators now under arrest, the Turkish ambassador to Cambodia yesterday pressed the govern